Customer Reviews

Etón FR600R Solarlink Self-Powered Digital AM/FM/SW/NOAA S.A.M.E. Weather Radio with Flashlight, Siren, Solar Power and Cell Phone Charger (Red)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I like all the combination of features that it comes with.

PROS:
- good reception for all the radios: AM/FM/SW. I would want more preset memory slots.

- good customization of S.A.M.E. alerts. You can specify what emergencies to be alerted for and to what degree (watch or warning).

- solar, lights, alarm, USB connectivity are good, practical add-ons. The solar is essential.

- decent display

Now the rest:

- body is not built strong enough - needs to be much more robust given its intended use in disasters and emergencies.

- the crank WILL BREAK. It's only a matter of time - short time. Very poorly designed.

- knobs are cheap and flimsy

- No AC adaptor included! Come on.

- having water-proof like IPX-7 standard would be a good idea. This has no water resistance at all.

Making this more robust would increase the price, yes. In my opinion it is essential.

The FR600B only looks good in picture. The silver knobs and crank are just cheap plastic. The black rubbery casing is nice. The most disappointing feature is its high power consumption that requires constant recharging or fresh batteries. I bought this hoping to use it by solar power alone but it takes a whole day of direct sun light for a few hours of operation. I do like the digital features and the radio station presets. I will switch back to the FR250 and put this one in the car for emergency use.

For the price, the features packed into this radio are extraordinary. It has everything to make it a great radio for unexpected power outages and storms. As a con, the band selector is very soft, It is not easy to choose the band and go straight to it since there is no audible and only very slight tactile clicks between bands. Something a little more rugged and distinct would have been nice. I would be willing to pay more for a more rugged version if they made one. Altogether, a good radio, but it falls short of being great.

I bought one today it,s going back tommorow crank power is very bad web site says crank for 90 seconds and get 30-40 min of battery life thats not true it dies after about 2 mins no ac adapter with it you have to pay over $30.00 to get one. I also found out today that eton corp tends to have type os in their manuals. your better off to buy one without the digital display it eats the battery extremly fast. It is also not to be used around moisture or rain their are not to many emergencies that are dry. Bottom line its junk for $20.00 it would be ok but for $80.00 forget it.

This is a great all in one emergency product. Functionally performs well.
It could be improved by:
* Increased battery capacity
* Improved switches and dials. Tougher construction, more tightly fitted and embedded into body i.e. non-protruding
* "Bump points" as this product is primarily intended for use in the outdoors i.e. "rubber" corners to absorb knocks.

All the bells and whistles are great but this is not something I can depend on in an emergency...

I asked for this radio as a father's day gift. I liked the ARC stamp of approval along with the combination of features. I especially liked the idea of using it everyday as a desktop AM/FM radio and alarm clock. I also needed a super reliable weather alert radio. After using the radio for about 10 days I'm not convinced its ready to be part of my family's emergency preparedness kit. I question whether I could depend on it in a real emergency.

My experience using the radio has started off well enough. Programming the radio (e.g., radio presets and NOAA SAME weather alerts) was reasonably easy to do. The owners manual provides adequate instruction. To program NOAA SAME properly you need to find your relevant SAME weather alert codes online (info provided how to do this in owners manual). I found feature to respond to "all / multiple / one" both very flexible and relatively easy to set up. The AM/FM radio works well and sounds relatively good. The alarm clock works well or worked well, at least initially. It's two strikes and your out with the snooze button, so be warned. I kind of liked that personally.

Now for the challenges:

- Do not use the AM/FM radio with battery power alone. Even with premium lithium AA batteries the radio doesn't function for more than 12 hours as an AM/FM radio before it signals "low battery". I checked the batteries both before and after with a digital battery tester: 100% capacity before (1.5 V / battery; 93% capacity after (1.4 V / battery).
- Critical features do not operate reliably when it displays the "low battery" signal. Weather alert alarms and alarm clock functions fail.
- The radio needs to be reset completely to get rid of the "low battery" signal, e.g., remove the "bad" batteries, disconnect the rechargables, disconnect all other power sources. You lose important programming when you do this and need to do reprogram. I lost date / time / alarm clock settings, but the SAME weather alert codes were retained. I'm not sure at what point I would lose these as well. Better store them some other place besides the radio, and keep them with your emergency preparedness kit.
- The unit doesn't come with a 120 V AC power supply, nor does it come with a USB cord. Not supplying these is silly and annoying. Needing to have one of these as well as the power to connect them to in an emergency is concerning. Furthermore I do question whether I could get critical radio functions to work reliably in an emergency even if I was prepared.
- Components feel less substantial than I personally feel comfortable with. My impressions are "tread lightly", "use sparingly". Function / power knobs are slow to respond. The digitial display and buttons associated with digital controls could fail with an unfortunate squirt of water. The antenna is brittle. The power crank looks / feels questionable.

To conclude, you never want to be in a situation where you second guess your equipment in an emergency. This radio should be "bombproof"; it should built extremely well and be ultra reliable with critical functions. I'm not convinced it is, and it wont be a part of my emergency preparedness kit until I am. It deserves less than adequate grade as a result.

The crank is made from cheap plastic. The handle broke after a mere 37 days of ownership (or just a week beyond Amazon's return window).

I wound the radio about once daily. The radio never saw the outside, and was never mistreated. Some parts of the radio are actually nice. It is loaded with features. The AM/FM digital tuner is nice, as are the memory presets. The radio looks sharp, as well.

Unfortunately, the radio fails miserably as a crank device, which is it's primary function. Bad idea for Eton to use poor construction and cheap parts for the most vital part of this radio.

Now, I will have to see how Eton's warranty service works. Otherwise, I now own an overpriced battery-operated, mono-clock radio/weak flashlight. This item had bad reviews, and I had misgivings prior to buying it. I let the lure of the features sucker me in. Big mistake.

I Do Not Recommend the Eton FR600, to anyone, for any reason. It is unreliable, and will fail eventually (perhaps even the day when you need it most).

I bought this based on reputation of another Eton product I purchased. I am very disappointed with the overall performance of this product compared to my FR160. Battery life is on avg. 6-8 hours of play. Compared to the FR160 which gives me days upon days of play.

Technical support did not respond to my initial email request. It took forever to find the email address. Then I had to ping them a second time for a reply. The technical support manager validated other customer comments/reviews that the digital display is a part of the reason that battery life is short. The solution offered was to purchase an AC Adapter. It's a good workaround for home or cottage use, but on the road and camping, this is not an option. The sound quality is also really bad. Had I known all of this in advance I would not have purchased this model for friends and family. I won't be making that mistake ever again.

I guess this is one of Eton's lemons.

While I love my other Eton, I won't be buying another one for a very long time and will warn others not to purchase this model.

The Eton FR-600B Solarlink Emergency Radio does function as advertised, the S.A.M.E. and RDS features are nice editions including SW feature, however it eats alkaline batteries within hours, and there is no AC nor DC adapter included. Personally I expected more from the maker of Grundig shortwave radios - and it could be a top notch radio if it didn't eat the batteries as quickly as it does. Sound is not too bad - remember it is an emergency radio and emphasis is placed on clarity. And its solar handle is a nice feature, according to Eton, if the radio is placed in direct sunlight for better than two minutes, the radio can be played in the solar position, but a full charge is said to take about two sunny days. Built-in are rechargeable batteries, but for reasons that go against sense, neither an AC nor DC adaptor are included - and that is a really big rub. Even Radio Shack who sells the radio does not even sell the AC adaptor, even as an `add-on' extra, and they are unable to special order it! I'd been looking awhile for an ac adapter at a legitimate business I can trust, but had been unlucky until recently. My suggestion is if you decide to buy the FR-600B, order the AC Adaptor from Ambient Weather through Amazon along with it. As to its shortwave band, don't expect brilliant performance - it works moderately at best. The built-in flashlight works well, and it includes a plug for charging a cell phone - but again, USB cables are not included. Eton can do better than this, and they fall short of Midland Emergency Radios like the ER-102 test report I wrote for Ice Pack. The Midland does include an ac adapter, although it does not offer all the features of the Eton FR-600B - however, the batteries in the Midland ER 102 last for months without needing replacement - but the radio only uses the 'alert' light rather than the S.A.M.E readout in the Eton emergency radio. I'd have to say at this point, if it's a choice between the Eton FR-600B and the Midland ER-102 to count on in an emergency - the Midland ER-102 wins hands down! ...and you're getting this from a guy who holds both a GROL commercial radio license, and a General Class Amateur Radio License!

It does what it needs to but the battery life seems too short after hand cranking up the charge, I guess the LCD display really takes more energy than the non-LCD models. Overall it will serve its purpose OK but for longer solar or hand cranked use I would recommend the non-LCD models.